Silver Bastard

“It made a clanking noise and stopped running,” Becca said, eyes darting toward me. “Earl will help me fix it—he always does . . . Is there any chance you could call him for me up at the gas station?”

Yeah. I’d get right on that.

“Grab your shit and get into the truck,” I told her, wondering when I’d turned into such a fucking masochist. “Where were you going?”

“Coeur d’Alene,” she replied, looking nervous as hell. “I don’t want to bother you. I can just wait here—”

“I don’t have time to fuck around. Just get in the truck,” I told her. She flinched at my tone. Watch your mouth, asshole. Wished she wouldn’t look at me like a goddamn ax murderer. Of course, that might not be entirely off base given my current mission—God only knew what Hayes needed from me . . . I frowned at the thought, and she made a startled little squeaking noise.

“Have I ever hurt you?” I asked her, abruptly. “Aside from that one night, have I ever done a goddamned thing to make you think I would even dream of hurting you?”

Becca shook her head quickly.

“No.”

“Then stop looking at me like I’m a serial killer and get in the fucking truck already. I really don’t have time for this and I can’t leave you here. Move your ass.”

Becca ducked into her car through the passenger-side door, flashing me a nice view of said ass in the process. Didn’t exactly help my mood. She dug around and came back out with a leather messenger bag. I watched as she locked up and then we climbed into my truck, doors slamming.

Becca looked even more scared than usual, which I guess made sense because I was being a dick—but that was only because she fucked Joe instead of me. If Joe was so great, why the hell wasn’t he rescuing her?

You’re a fucking idiot, asshole. You wanna sleep with her? Stop scaring her!

“So what’s in Coeur d’Alene?” I asked, pulling back out onto the road.

“I’ve got school there,” she replied. “But I think you should just drop me off at the gas station. I’m starting work tonight at the Moose, so I’m going to call in and let them know I can’t get into town today.”

“That gonna fuck things up for you?”

“It should be okay . . .” she said, her voice trailing off. I glanced over at her but she wouldn’t meet my eyes. God, that frustrated me. I bet she looked Collins in the eyes. Sure as hell wasn’t scared of Blake.

“I’ll give you a ride,” I decided. “Got shit to do in town, so I’ll bring you back out tonight, drop you at the Moose. You can catch a lift home afterward with your girl.”

“You don’t need to do that.”

“I know I don’t need to do it,” I snapped, annoyed. Jesus, what was wrong with me? You’re jealous, dickwad . . . “But I’m going to, so just accept it and move on. You call Earl when we hit cell service. He’ll go out and pick up your car, tow it back to his shop. You need a ride tomorrow, I’ll take you where you need to go.”

Shit, at this rate, I’d be offering to run her out to Joe’s for a quickie after she got off shift. Silence fell as we drove, my fingers tapping on the steering wheel as she stared silently out the window. Ten minutes later we reached the Kingston junction and I pulled out onto the interstate.

“So how are you?” she finally asked, breaking the silence. “I haven’t seen you around for a while. Then yesterday I saw you twice.”

I heard her voice catch, and smiled cynically.

“Three times,” I reminded her.

“What?”

“You saw me three times. The diner, the bar, and through my window from the roof.”

She choked and I bit back a laugh. Thought she’d gotten away with that, did she?

“Okay, I saw you three times,” she admitted. “What were you doing in that apartment?”

“That seems a little obvious. Blow job,” I said, feeling a little better. Becca might be skittish, but she was still interested. Last night proved it. She coughed and I decided to show her some mercy. “I’m moving in. Got the keys yesterday—going to be back in town for a while, needed a place to stay. It’s cheap and convenient. That a problem for you?”

“No, of course not,” she said quickly. I glanced over at her, but she still wouldn’t look at me. Well, fuck . . . I needed to calm down, give the girl a break. She’d been the victim all those years ago, not me. Needed to start thinking with the big head.

“Seriously, if it’s going to be a problem, now’s the time to say something. Didn’t think too much of it—it’s a small town. Not a ton of places to rent and the price was right.”

“It’s not a problem.”

“Good.”

Silence. Five minutes later she was still staring out the window. Now I couldn’t tell what the hell was going on. “I do something to piss you off?”

Becca shook her head, then she finally raised her eyes to mine.

“No,” she said.

“Then why won’t you look at me or talk to me?”

“I’m talking to you right now.”

“Don’t give me that—you’ve been doing your best to ignore me on the whole ride. If we’ve got an issue, let’s get it out there.”

“You made me lose my job,” she replied suddenly.

“McDougal was flipping you shit. I don’t care how big Blake is, he couldn’t take on that whole crew by himself. You lost your job because your boss is a bitch who blames other people for her own mistakes, the first of which was allowing an asshole like that inside in the first place.”